Wednesday, January 18, 2006

I Didn't Know

LOS ANGELES - The reclusive Harper Lee - the Greta Garbo of novelists who's been running away from fame ever since her only published book, "To Kill a Mockingbird," appeared 45 years ago - is venturing back into the public eye to support the movie "Capote."

At Vanity Fair's star-studded Golden Globes party Sunday night at the newly renovated Sunset Tower Hotel - and by "newly," I mean the renovations were completed three hours before the party started - I heard that the 79-year-old Lee just faxed a blurb to the film-makers.

"You told the truth about Truman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance is a work of art unto itself," wrote Lee, the late Truman Capote's best friend from Alabama, who's portrayed in the movie by Catherine Keener as she helps the flamboyant author research "In Cold Blood."